Sons And Daughters - 'Love The Cup' (Domino) Released 12/07/04

Having a band like Franz Ferdinand champion you can be a blessing and a curse; it raises your profile but on the other hand the public may have higher than usual expectations of your music.  So first off, Sons And Daughters do not sound like their fellow countrymen with whom they’ve been touring.  Their sound is difficult to classify, somewhere along the lines of electro-folk, sometimes resulting in a sound reminiscent of The White Stripes or Strokes.

What makes this Glaswegian quartet such an interesting proposition are the shared vocals of Adele Bethel and Scott Paterson – they are the antithesis of each other.  Bethel is quiet and sweet and Paterson has a gruff voice, yet the two often harmonise so well, as showcased in aptly titled ‘Awkward Duet’.  The pair is also pitted against each other in the vocal stakes, with Bethel coming out on top, in the excellent ‘Blood’.  This is again the case in album highlight ‘LA Lune’, a mid-tempo song driven along by the rhythm section that thuds along.  Both vocalists also go solo, with Bethel taking lead on ‘Broken Bones’ and Paterson on ‘Johnny Cash’ – the former of which sweeps you away in the soft vocals. 

Although ‘Love The Cup’ only clocks in at 25 minutes, it is a successful debut from Sons And Daughters.  They have a sound that stands out from many of their current peers, and musically they are competent, though possibly lacking in ideas at times.